


There's no real reason to be lonely

by InconsistentBell



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, I just really wanted to do my own thing w Carmen and her reaction to Gray, bc off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 12:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17704178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InconsistentBell/pseuds/InconsistentBell
Summary: Carmen isn't used to having people around her who can be there for her.Alternative title: Carmen Sandiego feels one (1) emotion and promptly freaks out





	There's no real reason to be lonely

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EclecticSorcerer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EclecticSorcerer/gifts).



> Title from that line in Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes bc my sense of humor is just Like That
> 
> Also Hey enjoy Emotions

Carmen Sandiego was not a woman easily perturbed by circumstance. Having grown up amongst the worst of the worst had given her what amounted to a solid marble wall of pleasant teasing and unbreakable good mood to hide weaknesses behind. That said, at that moment, she was positively freaking out.

Last time she'd seen Graham he had tried to drag her back to paradise nightmare, and she had left him on a silver platter for Interpol to find. Something must have happened in the meantime, because he had looked at her like she was just a very out of place opera buff. Player and her had a rule about them not talking when she was interacting with someone outside the team, but that was the one time she wished they'd broken it. After a bit of stunned silence their voice buzzed back into her bubble to remind her of Crackle's previous attempts, like she even had to be reminded. They asked how she could trust him, and she played it off as "seeing it in his eyes". She was too embarrassed to say her amnesiac brother had flirted with her.

She didn't have time to dwell for long as la Chévre appeared to seemingly confirm Gray's innocence. The fight was messy, to say the least, and she had been distracted enough to allow him to use Dr Bellum's new toy for whatever evil ploy she had concocted, and the following damage control mission had been even closer to terrible disaster. Luckily Uluru had been spared, but two seconds' worth of margin was too close, even for her.

She thinks about all this as Zack drives them to the pretty hotel Player picked out for them. They seem to have chosen a particularly nice one, as if to try to keep them there by sheer force of luxury, but Carmen could be overthinking. She knows Player doesn't think meeting Gray is a good idea but she has to know what she's done. 

Ivy and Zack tell her that they are going to try the local food, see where it lands on Zack's scale of world-wide greatness. They invite her along in what would seem like an afterthought if she didn't know them better. Zack's smile is indecipherable from the backseat after she tells them no, but Ivy is next to her and she looks almost hurt. The twins meet eyes in a way that seems questioning, or worried, or resigned. Carmen looks out the window. 

When they get to their room Ivy tells her to rest and Zack tells her he'll bring back something for her. Carmen doesn't say anything. She doesn't really have anything to say.  
Carmen waits until they're gone and puts on more casual clothes to meet Gray. These is the outfit she wore on the train to Paris, and she doesn't know what reaction she wants to get from it. 

On the way there Player is trying to convince her to turn around and leave, it's too risky, he might be a sleeper agent, Red, how would he know, but almost too late she realises the true danger in this scenario. As the thief stares across the street at the electrician her heart breaks once more, because he could be punished again if he's seen with her, and that's one chance she's not willing to take anymore. 

With a sour painful push in her ribs she's quiet while Player tries to figure out if she's okay. For the first time she feels lost in a city she's never been to, and all she wants to do is forget she exists like Gray did. Player is still trying to get an answer and she's still not used to someone genuinely wanting to know how she's feeling for something other than exploiting her weakness but she's kind of glad, in the way someone falling off a cliff is glad to see a pretty flower on their way down. 

She finally opens her mouth and asks for them to tell her about something they like. With all the detail they can muster, just please talk about something else. She knows she didn't answer their questions but she feels like they'll understand. She needs them to, somehow. 

They pause for a moment, and Carmen thinks she's going to faint with her eyes open, but soon enough they start talking about hacktivism and its history, and she feels a little bit less like a high speed train staring down a wall. 

After what feels like forever she's back at the nice hotel they picked and Carmen is surprised to find there's people inside. She must look ghastly because immediately she's being sat down on her bed by the twins. She has the sinking feeling that she has already made a terrible mistake and she feels her breathing accelerate and suddenly her eyes are filled with tears she has no control over. Carmen feels Ivy's form around her as she finds herself crying into her friend's shoulder. She opens her mouth to try to explain herself but there's only dissonant sobs there and Ivy's strong arms reposition themselves to hug her better. She can hear Zack talking to Player, trying to figure out what happened, but Ivy tells her she's going to be fine and that's all she wants to believe, even if she's drowning in her own desperate breaths. 

She feels like she's made a terrible mistake, but after these few months of working with the twins and the few years of knowing Player she figures if there's anyone in the world she can trust with these inconvenient parts of her, it's these three. They've had her back a lot already, maybe they can save her just one more time.


End file.
